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Monday, 18 November 2013

A Round up of recent events

Deep into November we move then and with the the UK Championship looming large on the horizon,some of the games big stars are beginning to find some form.

First up Mark Allen made it back to back PTC event victories,when he followed up his triumph in last months Ruhr Open with another fine performance,this time beating Judd Trump to win the Kay Suzanne Memorial Cup.

Allen with a trophy is something many of expected to see a lot of when he burst on the scene a number of years back but for various reasons this hasn't happened.This of course is something that can be said about a lot of players who are just on the margins of the very top of the game but with Allen the problem,especially in the last twelve months,has seemed more then anything else to be the fact that players seem to play their absolute best against him,One thing we do know is that success breeds success,so hopefully now he can take the step up to challenge for the games top titles.I have always felt he that he certainly has a Masters title in him.

As well as seeing Allen triumph here,it was also nice to see Trump back playing well again.The reasons for his lack of form this season has been the subject of much speculation in social media circles,but really in this modern era no player is going to be able to sustain top form all the time and it was only a matter of time before he found his game again,

Just how sharp his game is getting was again evident in Antwerp at the weekend where,although he lost to Mark Selby in a decider he did record his first professional 147 during the match

Talking of Selby he was also someone who had fallen off the radar a little of late,but he did enjoy.a good run at the recent International Championship and with his defence of his UK Championship title just around the corner he warmed up nicely this weekend by beating Ronnie O'Sullivan to win the Antwerp Open.

Many look on these PTC events in europe as testing ground for full ranking events in the future and if this weekend is anything to go by the Belgian public can look forward to seeing a lot more snooker action, as they once again turned out in their droves to see the games stars in person.

As a reward for their support the local crowds got a really great weekend of action that ended with a superb final that went all the way to the deciding frame.This had looked unlikely when Ronnie took the fourth frame to lead 3-1 but Selby as we know never gives up and he fought back to 3-3 to set up the grandstand finish.In that decider it looked as though Selbys efforts were going to be in vain as Ronnie got in,but a surprising missed black gave Mark the chance and he duly cleared up to win the title.

Into this week we go then and the action continues to come thick and fast as ITV4 gives terrestrial coverage to the first staging of the Champion of Champions tournament.This,as the name suggests brings together all the tournament winners for the past twelve months to compete for the £100,000 top prize.This also brings an interesting new format to the table with essentially each quarter been completed on each of four days with semi finals on Saturday and a two session final on Sunday.

Some have raised concerns about how close this tournament is to the UK Championship which begins on the 26th of the month,but surely there is no better quality practice these players could have then playing other top stars under match conditions.

Here's hoping we see good crowds,good snooker and every reason for ITV to try and extend their renewed interest in the sport.

Finally if all this snooker action isn;t enough,why not have a look at Steve Davis in the Jungle as he competes on I'm a Celebrity get Me Out of Here......God help us!!